pecuniary rather than a corporal penalty upon those guilty of crimes, though in a few cases, such as murder, arson, and open theft, the offenders were sometimes put to death. In cases of homicide, the delinquent, if he paid the were (or pecuniary value of the person's life) to the relatives, and the wite (or pecuniary penalty for the breach of the law) to the king, was exempted from further punishment.

There were several courts for the administration of justice, such as the county court, the hundred court, and the hall-mote. The modes of trial differed greatly from those of the present day, for trial by jury was unknown. The chief methods adopted to determine the guilt or innocence of alleged criminals were by compurgation and by ordeal. The first depended on a person's reputation; for, if a certain number of individuals came forward and deposed on oath that they believed the prisoner innocent, he was acquitted. The ordeal was a far more severe and less certain test. There were two principal kinds-the hot iron ordeal, and the hot water ordeal. When the latter was resorted to, the culprit had to place his hand or arm in boiling water, and if after three days it appeared unscathed, he was adjudged innocent; so if he carried a piece of red hot iron in his hand over a space of nine feet. The clergy managed the ordeals; and in these superstitious times they were considered as appeals to the justice of Heaven. Happily, through the spread of a purer Christianity, more truthful ideas of God's dealings with the world prevail in our day.

According to a system, known as frank-pledge, all freemen were required to belong to some tithing (or community of ten families), the members of which were, to a large extent, mutually responsible for one another's conduct. Besides the tithings, the country was divided into hundreds and shires.

Though, for many years after the Saxon invasion, the cultivation of the soil was neglected, yet, as the districts became settled, agriculture was again encouraged. Large numbers of sheep and swine were kept, and various kinds of grain were

grown. The monks particularly devoted themselves either to agriculture or handicraft; and some of them were very skilful as illuminators, and fabricators of ornamental articles. The Saxon ladies excelled in embroidery. During the ravages of the Danes the pacific pursuits of the inhabitants were much inerrupted.

The houses of the Saxons rarely consisted of more than one chamber, and were constructed of wood. The furniture was simple, though occasionally costly. The diet of the wealthy comprised wheaten bread, flesh, and fish, especially eels. The poorer class mainly depended for their sustenance on barley or oat bread. Excessive drinking, says one of the chroniclers, was a common vice of all ranks of people, in which they spent whole nights and days without intermission.

Literature, as already mentioned, was encouraged by Alfred, and he himself was distinguished as an author. Besides him may be mentioned Gildas, our earliest historian, who flourished in the middle of the sixth century; Nennius also, the writer of a" History of the Britons," who perhaps lived in the earlier half of the seventh century; Cadmon, a monk of Whitby, who died about 680; Adhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, the writer of several works in prose and verse (born about 656, died 709); Bede, author of the "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation" (born 672, died 735); Alcuin, who presided over the seminary, instituted by the Emperor Charlemagne ; Asser, who is said to have been a bishop in the reign of Alfred, whose life he compiled; and Ælfric, the Anglo Saxon homilist, probably born in the tenth century.

THE NORMAN KINGS.

WILLIAM I (THE CONQUEROR).

Reigned from 1066 to 1087.

Birth.-William was born at Falaise, near the close of the year 1027.

Descent.—He was the illegitimate son of Robert, sixth Duke of Normandy, the lineal descendant of Rollo, the founder of that state.

Marriage. He espoused his cousin Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders.

Children.-Robert, surnamed Curthose; Richard, killed by a stag in the new forest; William and Henry, who became Kings of England; Adela, who married Stephen, Count of Blois; and four other daughters.

Important Events.-After the battle of Hastings, the Saxon Witan in London chose Edgar Atheling as king; but the leading nobility, including Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, Edwin, Morcar, and Edgar himself soon found it necessary to make their submission to the Conqueror; and he was crowned on Christmas day at Westminster (1066). During his absence on the continent in the following year, the government was entrusted to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, his half-brother, and William Fitz-Osbern: in consequence of their severity, the Saxons revolted in several districts; but on the Conqueror's return the people were reduced to obedience.

In 1069 the sons of Sweyn, King of Denmark, arrived in the Humber with a large number of ships to aid the Saxons. Being joined by Edgar Atheling and others, they captured York and slew the Norman garrison; but, when William arrived, the Danes returned to their ships, and the insurgents were defeated. The whole of the district between the Humber and the Tyne was mercilessly devastated by his command.

A council was held at Winchester in 1070, at which Stigand was deposed from his archbishopric. Lanfranc, a Norman abbot, who was appointed his successor, held the see till his death in 1089.

Some of the Saxons maintained their independence for a considerable time in the Camp of Refuge in the island of Ely, which, from the surrounding morass, was nearly inaccessible They were headed by Hereward, the son of the Lord of Brunn (Bourn, in Lincolnshire); but William gained possession of their stronghold in 1071. The ultimate fate of Hereward, who escaped at its capture, is uncertain.

One of the most illustrious of the native nobility who submitted to the Conqueror was Waltheof, who received from him the earldoms of Huntingdon and Northampton, and the hand of his niece Judith. Unfortunately he was induced to join two Norman earls in a conspiracy against William; and, though he almost immediately revealed the plot, he was executed in 1075 mainly through the influence of his heartless wife, who wished to marry one of the Norman nobles.

Besides enemies among his subjects, the Conqueror had foes in his own household. His eldest son, Robert, irritated because he would not perform the promise he had previously made that he would put the government of Normandy into his hands, left his father's court, and fixed his residence at the castle of Gerberoi, which the King of France had bestowed on him. He supported himself and his retainers by plundering his father's territory, and on that account William laid siege to the castle in 1079. In an action that took place outside the walls, Robert and his father, who were both enveloped in armour, accidentally met in single combat, and the latter was unhorsed. A cry which escaped the king led his son to recognise him, and he solicited his pardon, which was subsequently accorded through the entreaties of his mother, Matilda.

- In the autumn of 1087 William entered into a war with Philip I, King of France, and captured by surprise the town of

Mantes. He either directed or allowed his soldiers to set fire to the town; and while riding through, his horse trod upon some embers, and plunged so violently as to inflict upon him serious injuries, which led to his death.

About the middle of his reign (1079), William formed the New Forest in Hampshire as a hunting ground; and one of the chroniclers says that the towns and churches were destroyed for a space of more than thirty miles. Very severe laws were enacted for the protection of the beasts of the chase: as a specimen of which it is sufficient to mention that any unauthorized person who slew a hart or a hind was liable to lose his eyes.

To the Conqueror the origin of the feudal system, as established in England, is ascribed. According to this system, all the lands in the country were considered primarily to belong to the sovereign, who, when he bestowed estates on his followers, required that they should, if called upon, furnish him with as many knights, to attend him in his wars for forty days annually, as their were knight's fees in their estates. These fees, of which there were 60,215 in England, comprised as much land as was necessary to maintain a knight. The chief proprietors or barons granted out portions of their estates to other persons, who were required to render to them services similar to those which they themselves rendered to the king. The development of the feudal system caused a large portion of the ordinary population to be placed in a condition of villenage or serfdom: they were compelled to cultivate the land of the nobleman on whose estate they resided, nor could they leave their abode unless he granted them their freedom.

In order to ascertain the nature, extent, etc., of the landed property in the country, William directed a general survey to be made; and in 1086 the two volumes containing the result of the investigation were compiled. These invaluable records, known as the Domesday Book, are still preserved in the chapter house at Westminster.